Ophelia and Leo
by fictionalamelia
Summary: The starlight is expanding fast, but twins Ophelia and Leo have problems of their own.


The starlight was beautiful. It sparkled and danced across the sky filling the spectators on the ground with a warmth and awe they could not parallel on earth. Ophelia gazed at it with disinterest. She rolled her eyes at the idiot she called her twin. They both knew the starlight would fade. It was just something else that came and went. The school scientists thought something must be wrong with the universe. Ophelia narrowed her eyes. Maybe it was just nature. She watched as the starlight visibly started to spread farther across the sky. Leo uncrossed his legs. He lazily punched Ophelia.

"What?" She growled. Leo raised his eyebrows.

"Sorry. When we heading home?" He watched Ophelia glance around the area in which they were sitting. It was full of locals and tourists alike, this being the only designated area for public viewing of the starlight. The really good spots were government ground.

"I don't know. We just got here." Ophelia put her gaze back on her brother. Leo glanced down at his watch and back at the sky.

"It's bigger than last night." Leo sighed as Ophelia looked scornfully upwards.

"I suppose." Her stomach churned. The starlight was spreading almost unnaturally fast. Leo stood up and stretched.

"I'm off. Why do we keep coming back? It's not like it's about to start a song and dance routine." Leo started to mime and dance to the song gurgling out of the loud speakers nearby. Ophelia suppressed a smile and frowned at her incoming thought.

"Mum wants us out of the house." Leo spread his arms in response. Her frown deepened.

"She got a new one." Leo grunted in disgust.

"I know." Ophelia sighed. Leo sat back down beside her. "Might as well enjoy it now."

"Yeah, if it's something to enjoy." Ophelia lay back down and watched the stars skip across the sky, teasing her of their freedom and obvious joy.

Kate heard her children from the top of the street. They wanted her to hear. She'd been prepared half an hour before. She sat on the edge of her bed slowly pulling her fingers through her hair. The key scraped the lock and she heard the twins fall into the house their voices raised ten decibels higher than normal. Kate smiled as Ophelia's laugh filled the kitchen and the adjoining hallway. Their laughter filled her chest. It wasn't often they laughed together. Sure they schemed and bitched together, they did everything together, but laughing was almost a sin between them. Kate developed a look not unlike Ophelia's and sighed. They had rarely laughed at all since Douglas had left. Slowly standing up she tried to take her time in making her way to the kitchen. Walking down the hall she found them eating ice cream in the kitchen. Kate relaxed as she watched them eat. They didn't realize how alike they really were. Ophelia stooped over the bench, looking like Leo when he was trying to concentrate on the television. She would slowly bring the spoon to her mouth and then quickly swallow the ice cream before repeating the process again. Leo had already finished his ice cream and was leaning back from the fridge, trying to find something else to eat, looking like Ophelia when she was trying to find something in her wardrobe. Kate watched them from the doorway before gathering confidence and sitting across from them on the bench. The two of them gave her the same stare before continuing their conversation. Leo shut the fridge door and walked away towards the television finishing his sentence. "No way is that the right way. If you would just – "

"How was the starlight?" Kate almost swallowed her words as Leo swung his entire body around to answer her. "The same as always." Kate tried to smile but it came out limp and too trying. Ophelia gazed around the room and turned to her mother.

"Was someone here mum?" Ophelia's eyes burned into her mother's face. Kate felt Leo move from behind her to Ophelia's side. Kate stared back at her children.

"Why would you ask something like that?" Kate tried to steel herself.

"Talia told me she saw a car pull up after we had left." Ophelia pulled herself taller. Leo pinched her under the bench and Ophelia kicked him back. Kate didn't miss this.

"Well, dear, Talia is just a gossip who doesn't have her own life." Ophelia continued staring. "Yes, one could say that. One could also say that we were sent away to the starlight when dad left." Kate tried to pull herself up, tried to make herself scold her child for speaking so. She couldn't though. Not with this subject. Kate stood up tight-lipped.

"You have no real idea about what happened that night between your father and me. It doesn't concern you." Kate bit her tongue. Ophelia snorted. "It doesn't have anything to do with me? With Leo? He's our father! You slept around and he left, end of story. We have every right to know why you send us off to look at pretty lights for three hours."

"Not everything is about you Ophelia! You and your brother have been spoilt for far, far too long." Kate walked down the hall to her bedroom. Locking the door behind her she sat on her bed and tried to breathe in and out slowly. Her emotions overtook her and a gut-wrenching sob engulfed her body. She grabbed her handbag and walked quickly out to her car. Leo ran after her but she beat him to the car. Banging on the window he made her roll the window down.

"Where you going?"

"Out." Kate stared at the crest of a distant hill.

"You play right into her games you know? Just yell at her to stop and she might, someday." Kate kept staring. Thoughts ran around and around in her head. Presently she looked back at Leo.

"I'm sending her to boarding school."

"Huh?" Leo's face deepened into a frown. Kate's nerves steadied.

"I'm sending Ophelia to boarding school. I won't need to deal with her 'games', as you call them." Leo slapped the bonnet.

"That's not the solution! You'll make her worse!" This seemed to convince Kate even more of its appeal. She patted his arm.

"Don't worry Leo, _you_ don't need to go. You can stay with me and still go to your school." Leo stamped his foot.

"No! You can't send her away!" Kate started the ignition in response. Leo started yelling.

"If you send her away I'll call the police. You're neglecting your parental responsibilities!" Kate sped away down the road. Leo stamped his foot again and ran inside.

"Ophelia! Ophelia!" Leo ran yelling around the house. Ophelia emerged from her room.

"What? What is it?" She started at his crazed face and his hand wringing.

"Mum, Kate, whatever you want to call her, is going to send you away!"

"What?" Ophelia grabbed Leo's arms. He stood there, wringing his hands even more, his anger draining away as Ophelia's anger took over.

"She wants to send you to a boarding school! She said – that's all she said but she's sending you away!"

"When?" Ophelia let go and started to pace in front of Leo who kept wringing his hands in anxiety. Ophelia grabbed them and suddenly her anger was swept away too.

"Why would she send me away? She was asking for it! You know it too!" Ophelia started crying, big tears that

welled up and then ran down her face. Leo rubbed her back, not knowing what to say. Ophelia hadn't properly cried since they were five and he had hit her repeatedly with a building block, and then she had only cried to get him in trouble.


End file.
